VOA慢速英语2020 众议院报告将737 MAX坠机事故归咎于波音公司和联邦航空管理局

A United States Congressional report blames the crashes of two Boeing 737 MAX airplanes on the manufacturer's design and the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) approval process.

美国国会报告将两架波音737 MAX飞机的失事归咎于制造商的设计缺陷和联邦航空管理局的审批程序。

The 737 MAX was grounded in March 2019 several days after an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed, killing¹ 157 people. Five months earlier, a Lion Air 737 MAX crashed in Indonesia. All 189 passengers and crew were killed.

2019年3月，一架埃塞俄比亚航空公司的航班坠毁，造成157人死亡，几天之后737 MAX被停飞。再早5个月，狮航的一架737 MAX在印尼坠毁。造成189名乘客和机组人员全部遇难。

The House Transportation and Infrastructure² Committee wrote in the report that the crashes "were not the result of a singular failure, technical mistake, or mismanaged event." It said, "Boeing failed in its design and development of the MAX, and the FAA failed in its oversight³ of Boeing and its certification of the aircraft."

美国众议院运输和基础设施委员会在报告中写道，这些坠机事故“并非单一故障、技术失误或是管理不善造成的。”报告称，“波音公司在MAX机型的设计和开发方面失败了，而联邦航空管理局在对波音的监管以及飞机认证方面也失败了。”

Pete DeFazio is the Transportation Committee Chairman. He said, "This is a tragedy that never should have happened." DeFazio told reporters, "We're going to take steps in our legislation to see that it never happens again as we reform the system."

皮特·迪法齐奥是运输委员会主席。他说：“这是一场本不该发生的悲剧。”迪法齐奥对记者表示：“我们将采取立法行动，以确保我们在改革该制度时不会再次发生这种情况。”

Boeing said in a statement that it "learned many hard lessons as a company from the accidents ... and from the mistakes we have made." It said it had cooperated fully⁴ with the House committee and that it has since followed experts' advice on engineering and testing of the plane.

波音在声明中表示，该公司“从事故以及我们所犯的错误中吸取了许多经验教训。”该公司称其同众议院委员会充分合作，并且此后一直遵循专家对飞机工程设计和测试的建议。

The FAA said it would work with the lawmakers to put in place improvements identified in the report.

联邦航空管理局表示将与议员们合作实施报告中所确定的改进措施。

The investigation⁵

调查

The House released the report Wednesday after an 18-month investigation into the crashes. It identified five problems with the design and approval process for the 737 MAX.

众议院在对坠机事故进行18个月的调查之后，于周三发布了调查报告。它确定了737 MAX的设计和审批过程中的5个问题。

First, it said Boeing cut costs during production in order to compete with a new plane from Airbus.

首先，它称波音公司在生产过程中削减了成本以便与空客公司的新飞机竞争。

Second, it said Boeing made false assumptions about the airplane's software, designed to prevent aerodynamic stalls. In the two crashes, the software repeatedly forced the nose of the airplane down as pilots struggled to keep the planes in the air. Many pilots were not informed about the software. Yet, the report said Boeing expected that pilots would be able to deal with the safety issues.

其次，它称波音公司对旨在防止失速的飞行软件进行了错误的假定。在这两起坠机事故中，在飞行员努力保持飞机正常飞行的情况下，该软件反复迫使飞机机头向下。许多飞行员并未知获悉该软件。然而，报告称波音公司期望飞行员能够处理这一安全问题。

Third, the committee found that Boeing hid software information from the FAA, the airlines and 737 MAX pilots to avoid any requirements for additional pilot training. Investigators⁶ found that under a 2011 contract with Southwest Airlines, Boeing would have had to cut its airplane sale price by $1 million if more pilot training were required.

第三，该委员会发现波音公司向美国联邦航空管理局、航空公司以及737 MAX飞行员隐瞒了软件信息，以避免有关方面要求对飞行员进行额外培训。调查人员发现，根据2011年与美国西南航空签订的合同，如果需要对飞行员进行更多培训，波音公司将不得不把每架飞机的售价削减100万美元。

"That drove a whole lot of really bad decisions internally at Boeing, and also the FAA did not pick up on these things," DeFazio said.

迪法齐奥表示：“这在波音内部造成了许多非常糟糕的决定，而且联邦航空管理局也没有注意到这些事情。”

Fourth, the report found that Boeing employees failed to warn the FAA of possible safety issues.

第四，该报告发现波音公司的雇员没有就潜在安全问题向联邦航空管理局发出警告。

And, finally, lawmakers reported that Boeing's influence over the FAA approval process led the agency to make poor decisions. It said FAA management overruled its own technical and safety experts in support of Boeing.

最后，议员们报告称，波音公司对联邦航空管理局审批程序的影响力导致该机构做出了错误决定。报告称，联邦航空管理局否决了自己的技术和安全专家以支持波音公司。

DeFazio said, "Our report gives Congress a roadmap on the steps we must take to reinforce aviation safety and regulatory transparency, increase Federal oversight, and improve corporate⁷ accountability to help ensure the story of the Boeing 737 MAX is never, ever repeated."

迪法齐奥说：“我们的报告为国会提供了路线图，指明了我们加强航空安全和监管透明度，提高联邦监管以及强化企业责任所必须采取的步骤，以确波音737 MAX的事故再也不会发生。”

The United States House of Representatives is controlled by the Democratic Party. DeFazio said the transportation committee is working with the Republican-controlled Senate on new legislation.

美国众议院由民主党控制。迪法齐奥表示，运输委员会正在同共和党控制的参议院就新立法进行合作。

At the same time, Boeing is testing new flight control software for the MAX, hoping to get approval to fly the plane again later this year or early 2021.

与此同时，波音公司正在测试MAX机型的新飞控软件，希望今年年底或明年年初该机型的复飞能审批通过。

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

3 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。